Baking With Julia

Boom!

Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen.

This festive array includes amaretti, pizzelle and biscotti.

They're fun to make with the guidance of master teacher and author Nick Malgieri of Peter Kump's New York Cooking School.

Learn how on... [Captioning sponsored by VIEWERS LIKE YOU] When you're going to an Italian wedding, what do you bring?

Well, a great big platter of assorted cookies.

And here's Nick Malgieri who's going to show us how to do them.

We sure are, we're going to start with some zaleti.

These are Venetian co rnmeal cookies that have some cu rrants in them.

And although we don't th ink of cornmeal as a dessert ingredient it's pretty common in northern Italy.

There are several cookies and cakes made with cornmeal.

We're going to start ma king them right now, as a matter of fact.

And I'll start with a cup of all-purpose flour.

And I like to measure the flour by gently spooning it into the cup like this, an d then leveling it off.

How much does one cup weigh?

That makes about four an d a quarter to 4 ounces.

That's just le veling it off.

So I've got a cup of flour.

And I'm also going to use a cup of yellow cornmeal.

What I really like to do if I can is use stone- gr ound cornmeal because I find that th e stone-ground cornmeal has a lot more corn flavor.

I think it does.

And it definitely has a lot more oomph than th e degerminated cornmeal.

That is fairly coarse cornmeal.

You can buy that at a health food store.

Definitely, he alth food store and actually you ca n get some stone- ground cornmeal in the supermarket, too.

So continuing along wi th the ingredients here I've got a third of a cup of sugar and I'm not quite so careful ab out measuring the sugar.

And then we've got a quarter of a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of baking powder that's just regular do uble-acting baking powder.

But I'm going to set th is aside for a second while we get our liquid in gredients ready.

And here I've got an egg.

And that's a large egg an d a yolk which we're going to just save ou r egg white here for our amaretti later on.

And a teaspoon of vanilla ex tract goes in.

Pure vanilla extract?

Pure vanilla extract.

So here I'm grating th e zest from a lemon and we previously ri nsed off the lemon.

And I find that th is kind of a grater that has these di agonal-type holes as opposed to a box grater that has those ki nd of nail holes in it really works well, because yo u get a lot of zest fr om one lemon.

You certainly do.

And the one thing that's im portant about that, I think is not to press too hard while grating so that you don't ge t a lot of that wh ite stuff that's underneath th e outside.

That's a good point.

So I'm just going to whisk th at up together and I think we're almost re ady to go here.

Here we've got our egg yolk, vanilla and lemon zest ready.

And I'm going to take... an d first of all just mix th e dry ingredients.

That's, again, the cornmeal, fl our, sugar, salt an d baking powder.

And here I've got a stick of butter and I'm just going to kind of use my hands for this because I'm going to rub it in by hand.

Impeccably clean hands.

Definitely, definitely.

The butter does not need to be softened at all although if it has been at room temperature fo r a few minutes while you're getting the ot her ingredients ready then it will incorporate a lot more easily.

But there's absolutely no reason not to use butter that's cold from the refrigerator.

That works just fine.

That is unsalted butter?

It is unsalted butter.

I always use un salted butter.

Okay, so here we've go t our butter pretty we ll worked in.

This is a cup of currants wh ich we rinsed off un der some cold water so that they would separate fr om each other so that there wo uldn't be lumps and just put them in a strainer and rinse them off un der some cool water.

If you find that the currants ar e a little bit dry that one of the things yo u can do is take the currants and ri nse them off under so me hot water and that kind of re-hydrates th em a little bit again.

I'm going to take a rubber spatula here and get my egg mixture in.

And I think I'll ju st mix that in by hand because we're going to take an d turn this out on to the work surface.

That's a perfectly simple mixture, isn't it?

Yeah, it really is.

It's kind of like ma king a pastry dough.

There's nothing re ally difficult and I think the only di fficult thing is getting the dough of f your hands which is, this is kind of an easy way to do that if you're organized about it an d you do one finger at a time.

It's easier and it is a little bit cleaner.

So what I'm going to do is get a little bi t of flour here put it on the work surface and I'm going to turn my dough out onto it.

You see the dough looks a little bit dry right now but just in a very, ve ry little bit of pr essing this together the dough is going to be perfectly smooth and this is just completing th e final mixing of it.

It's not necessary to knead it a lot.

It's not as though it 's bread dough and it needs to be ha ndled a great deal but there we go.

And the amount of flour th at's on the surface is just enough to keep it from sticking.

It's not as though yo u need a ton of flour.

So anyway, this is easy to cut.

I'm just going to use this kind of firm, rubber spatula here to cut the dough in half and I'm going to show you tw o different ways of working with the dough.

One is to make what we call classic biscotti.

And biscotti, of course, are twice-baked cookies.

First of all, we form th em into a log.

Let me grab a little tiny bi t more flour, there.

We form them into a log and put them on a pan.

Here's my pan.

And I'm going to just sl ide this on slide this towards th e front here a little bit.

Is that parchment paper?

This is a little bit of parchment paper and you know what, fo il works just as well.

Oh, foil.

Foil will work fine.

So here I've got my dough on the pan.

I'm going to flatten it ve ry slightly.

I'm going to throw this in to the oven now.

This is going to bake for about 20 minutes at 350.

There we go.

And I'm going to pu t this in the top th ird of the oven.

Now, what I'm going to do wi th the rest of the dough is form the zaleti, like th ose diamond-shaped cookies th at we saw at the beginning.

Each one of these is going to be rolled into a log again, that's approximately 12 inches long.

We're going to flatten th em slightly.

And then just cut across on a diagonal to make diamond shapes.

And you see that th at works perfectly.

So I think I'll just cu t a bunch and then pu t them onto the pan.

But you see that th ose are easy to form.

And then we've got a couple of little scraps there and I'll show you wh at we do with those.

And you want them kind of rough looking, I guess.

They don't need to be pe rfectly formed.

They're not pe tits fours glacs so they don't need to be 10 0% perfectly formed.

Here's my little scrap an d what I'm going to do is slant each end and th en just make two little di amonds out of that, too.

So that we wind up with a di amond-shaped there, too.

So we're going to pu t these in the oven.

These, because they're a little bit less th icker and smaller are only going to take ab out 12 or 15 minutes.

And you know, a good precaution since we're putting that in the bottom of the oven I'm going to check those in a few minutes and we if we need to what we can do is slip an other pan under there because especially in an electric oven you've got the two layers of metal so that the fierce bottom heat is not going to burn the bottom of the cookies.

Yeah, good.

Nick: Okay, here we have the zaleti that are baked.

And I like to do them so that they just have a really light golden brown color.

They don't need to be real dark.

So we're going to let them co ol off a little bit.

Just to show you how th ey should be on the bottom.

See, they're just a little bit golden.

And they're still a little soft.

Yes, light golden touch.

I notice you did put another pan underneath there.

Yeah, because I was afraid.

See, the bottoms are re ally nicely done and they would've be en charred.

That's such a good idea.

I never would have thought of that...

I like to do that.

Now, here we've got ou r log that we've baked and it's co oled off already.

I'm going to take it and move it over here to the cutting board and I like to cut th ese about a third of an inch or so.

And you really need to use a sharp, serrated knife to do that.

So these are going to be th e classic biscotti or twice-baked cookies where we put them ba ck in the oven fo r a second baking where they're going to toast very slightly.

And these ends, I always co nsider them my reward.

I always kind of nosh th em right away rather than put them ba ck in the oven.

So I'm just going to gr ab these, a few at a time and line them up on the pan here.

And they don't need to be any distance apart because they're not go ing to be doing any gr owing or spreading.

Just kind of lining them up.

And these now, fo r the second baking.

ar e going to become crisp.

So...

Into the oven?

We're going to throw th ose into the oven now and again, it's at 350 and it's going to ta ke approximately te n minutes or so for those to bake to the point where th ey're going to be crisp.

Okay, here we've got th e zaleti biscotti that we're taking out and these are browned qu ite nicely as you can see.

How long were they in there?

Nice and golden.

They take about ten minutes or so at 350 to color like this and you see that they are a little bit darker then the diamond- sh aped zaleti.

And they have crisped up.

They do crisp up.

In fact, they're going to crisp up even more as they cool.

So actually, we can put some of these on our platter now.

Here we've got our di amond-shaped zaleti that we can fill in amongst th e festive ribbons here.

And even though these are warm I think I'm going to put on a couple of the biscotti just so that we can ro und out the assortment and these are really great af ter they cool.

They become nice and crisp.

Ooh, I'm just going to try one.

I like them warm, too.

Try a little bi t of that one.

Mmm, that's good.

You see, they do crisp up a little bit.

Thank you, Nick.

Thank you, Julia.

And now what, Nick?

We're going to make so me amaretti.

And what are they?

These are some Italian almond macaroons and we're going to finish them off in a couple of ways some plain, some with some pine nuts on them.

And the main ingredient for making this is almond paste.

And if you buy almond paste-- I'm just going to break this up and start putting it in the mixer here.

But when you buy your almond paste you either want to buy it in this form which we bought at a specialty store and it was wrapped up in half-pound pieces.

Or you want to buy th e almond paste that comes in a half-pound can.

So I've got my half-pound of almond paste in the mixer and I'm putting in a half of three-quarters of a cup of sugar.

We're going to let this mix until the almond paste gets finely crumbed up wi th the sugar.

So now that this is finely crumbed I'm going to add th e rest of the sugar.

That was three-quarters of a cup of sugar to start with, and we divided it in half.

And that's going to take another couple of seconds just to mix in.

Now it's time to add th e two egg whites.

They should kind of go in one at a time when the egg whites ar e freshly separated li ke that.

Okay, that looks good.

I'm going to throw in the other egg white.

What are we looking for?

You know what, Julia we're looking for this to get mixed to the point where it's st arting to stick to the bottom of the bowl, wh ich it's doing.

In fact, I' m going to stop.

And you see, this do esn't get to the point where it's extremely sm ooth and fluffy.

No, it's rather like cat's tongue cookies where you don't want to overmix.

Exactly, you don't want to overmix and you don't want to get it to the point where you've go t a lot of air be aten into it because any kind of amaretti or macaroons-- which is of course what amaretti are-- are going to rise up to o much if you beat air into them.

So, I'm going to fill a pastry bag here.

And this ha s approximately a half-inch pl ain tube in it.

And, you know, fi lling up the bag is a question of really be nding back most of the bag before filling it.

And, I'm going to put al l of the paste fo r the amaretti right into th e pastry bag here.

That has a nice, very almondy... smell but you didn't put any almond extract or anything in there.

No, that is definitely ri ght from the almond paste.

So, we're going to move over here to the pan and pipe these out.

This is a fun technique, yo u know because the almond ma caroon paste here fo r the amaretti is fairly firm, what is a fun thing to do and it makes it a lot easier is to kind of br eak the bag in the middle like that so that you have a twist so that you're really on ly squeezing out a little bit of it at a time.

And my technique for doing that... That's about a formal tablespoon that you did.

Yeah, I would think it is, yes.

If you wanted to shape them by hand rather than using th e pastry bag you could measure out a tablespoonful.

And then, of course, here we'll just squeeze th e rest of it down.

And the technique fo r piping is to be about ha lf an inch above the pan.

And I like that little twist.

And you know wh at you do?

You stop squeezing be fore you twist away rather than make a point.

Yeah, I think that's on e of the hardest things about learning ho w to pipe... is not what to do bu t what not to do because most people wh en they pipe start piping and they think yo u've got to pipe around in a circle li ke that for some reason and make something th at's like a funny, little squiggle li ke that.

Where that doesn't... You just leave th e bag in one place and you squeeze it out an d then you stop squeezing and then pull away-- sideways rather than to pull upwards.

And I'm just piping out on e pan of the amaretti here.

And this is a fun technique wh ere what we do is take a clean towel-- an d it has to be a non-terry-cloth- ty pe towel.

And I'm going to wet the towel in some water here.

It never occurred to me.

This is fun.

And it really... wh at it does is it gives the amaretti a beautiful finish because they come ve ry straight and crackled on top af ter we do this.

And here I' ve got my wet cloth and we take this an d we smack it re peatedly... Not very hard, though.

No, not very hard-- gently smack it down on to the amaretti.

And what it does is it wets the surface, it melts that sugar that's down on the surface.

And the other thing that works re ally perfectly about it is now we loose al l the little ri dges from piping so that one there th at has a little tail on it really that disappears.

So this is good technique if you have any little im perfections from piping.

So we're going to put some... Why don't we put some of these pignoli-- th e pine nuts-- on just that one row of them... here.

And...

I keep dribbling them down.

Pignoli are so expensive th at I think... Oh, are they?

it's not necessary to put a ton of them on-- but they're really nice.

The flavor of the pine nuts really goes well with th e flavor of the almond paste.

So here we've got a row with some pine nuts on and some wi thout pine nuts and we're going to put these in the oven now.

They're going to take ab out 15 minutes or so at 325 and they're going to color nicely and be risen and puffed.

Okay, th ese are done now and they've colored nicely an d they're firm.

And what I' m going to do... Oh, they cooked very quickly.

How long was that, about?

It takes about te n to 15 minutes for them to bake.

And they're just barely brown.

Yeah, just ni ce and golden.

And what I like to-- I'm being careful of the hot pan here-- but what I like to do is lift the corners of the paper like this and then move them over to a rack to cool.

And they need to cool for about 15 minutes.

You know, we have to be careful taking these off the paper because now that th ey've cooled-- even though they're co oled through-- because they have a nice, moist center sometimes they st ick to the paper.

In fact, this one...

I was seeing whether or not they would come off and that one ca me off perfectly but, see, the way to do it is to kind of bend the paper ba ck very gently and then remove them.

You don't want to break them.

Yeah, exactly, because so metimes they just st ick a little bit.

And this is the method in case you have a problem with the amaretti sticking; there's a little trick you can do.

I've got some hot water with a brush here and if the amaretti stick you want to take some the hot water and just paint the back.

And I like to do... you could turn the paper over and do all of them at once but I like to do them one at a time because, you see that even stuck a little ti ny bit there even though we've got it on the parchment paper.

Parchment really works well for this because it's silicon-coated, it's non-stick.

Brown paper also works very well.

You and get this at any store now, can't you?

Yeah, it's pretty much a supermarket item no wadays.

You what, Julia?

I'm going to transfer th ese over to here.

They don't seem to...

Isn't it funny, those ones wi th the pine nuts seem to have stuck a little bit but these other one se em not to have.

I'm going to just ta ke that precaution and wet the backs of these a little bit, too just to make sure th ey come off.

We've got a wonderful cookie tray here, isn't it?

We're certainly bu ilding up an assortment.

I'm going to eat one.

Yeah, I'm going to try on e of these with th e pine nuts.

Mmm, well, this is lovely and crunchy outside.

And it's moist in the center-- which is ho w they should be.

And they have such a wonderful taste.

I like the almond flavor.

I'm so glad to know how to make these.

These are great, th ank you.

Thank you.

Chef Nick is now going to make these little waffles.

They're called pizzelle.

Little pizzas-- but not because they have tomatoes on them just because they're ro und and flat like a pizza is.

The recipe is really easy to put together.

I've got two eggs.

I'm going to throw in a pinch of salt and just whisk that to gether.

And then, half a cup of granulated sugar.

And then, ju st whisk that in.

We've got a tablespoon of anisette that goes in.

And here I've got six tablespoons of unsalted butter that's melted and cooled.

And I'm just going to kind of whisk that in.

What we've got that's going to go in last-- and I'm just going to fold that in after the butter is mixed in-- is one and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour which is mixed already wi th 1 teaspoons of baking powder.

Double-action baking powder.

Just plain, old ba king powder, right.

So that just goes right in.

This is sort of kind of like a crpe.

The ingredients ar e similar except we don't have that kind of li quid quality that the crpe ba tter has.

So, our batter is all mixed.

We just need to bake th e pizzelle And here we've got ou r pizzelle iron which is al ready preheated.

And the first time yo u use a brand new one-- you can see it's a little smoky there-- first time you use a brand new one it's a good idea to oil it before you start heating it.

But this have been used a little while already.

So, we're fine with that.

And here I'm putting about ha lf a tablespoon of batter right in the center of each one of the impressions here.

And I'm going to close it down.

And the handle ha s a clamp on it so that you can cl ose it tight.

And the way to tell th at it's baking is the fact that you see th e steam coming out.

When the steam stops it's time to open it an d take a look.

That's all electric.

Look at this old one that I got over in France.

That's a beauty.

Isn't that lovely with the nice design.

That you'd heat on the stove.

Right, and it needs to be well buttered.

Yes .

Okay, I think this one is almost done.

We have a little, tiny bi t of steam still coming out of it.

Here, these look fine.

And I like to do them so that they're ni ce and light.

I don't like to have them to o dark because with the butter an d sugar in them they can start being a little bit bitter.

So, there's one th at is done.

This one had a little, ti ny bit more batter.

What I'm going to do wi th this one while it's warm-- I'm just going to close that back down again-- is to take it here an d quarter it because that can be a nice way to serve them.

And they're a little bit neater than trying to eat th e whole ones.

And you can sprinkle these wi th confectioners' sugar or not as you wish.

And they can become an addition to our tray of assorted biscotti here.

Or you mentioned ice cream.

How about that?

Beautiful strawberry so rbet here.

These look really nice as an addition to the sorbet, as a decoration and also, they certainly ta ste excellent with it.

Try a little bit here.

I think this is a great idea.

Thank you, Nick.

Thank you, th is was fun, Julia.

It was a real pleasure.

I hope you'll come again and we'll make some more.

And I'm going to eat a macaroon.

Thank you-- me, too.

That's delicious.

I love those.

Julia: Bon apptit!